Emergency Care, 13e (Limmer et al.)
Chapter 12 The Primary Assessment
1) What BEST defines the immediate sense of the patient’s degree of distress, formulated from
the patient’s immediate environment, appearance, and chief complaint?
A) General impression
B) Primary assessment
C) Scene size-up
D) Secondary assessment
Objective: 12.1
2) Which of the following is NOT part of the general impression?
A) Patient’s facial expression
B) Patient’s age and race
C) Position in which the patient is found
D) Patient’s past medical history
Objective: 12.1
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3) In EMS, what does mental status refer to?
A) Patient’s level of awareness of his surroundings
B) Any history of mental illness that the patient may have
C) Patient’s general level of intelligence
D) None of the above
Objective: 12.1
4) In EMS, which of the following BEST describes the term intervention?
A) Determining if there is a problem
B) Taking steps to correct a problem
C) Creating a permanent record of patient care
D) Decreasing the EMT’s liability for negligence
Objective: 12.1
5) Which of the following describes the chief complaint?
A) Reason why the patient summoned EMS
B) Events immediately preceding the call for EMS
C) Overall impression of the patient’s condition
D) All of the above
Objective: 12.1
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6) Which of the following represents the correct order of assessment for the EMT during the
primary assessment from start to end?
A) General impression, mental status, airway, breathing, circulation, patient priority
B) Mental status, general impression, airway, breathing, circulation, patient priority
C) Patient priority, general impression, mental status, airway, breathing, circulation
D) None of the above
Objective: 12.2
7) Which of the following is completed first during the primary assessment?
A) Determining transport priority
B) Assessing mental status
C) Opening the airway
D) Forming a general impression
Objective: 12.2
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8) Which of the following BEST describes an EMS provider’s “sixth sense”?
A) Diagnostic ability
B) General impression
C) Clinical judgment
D) Scene safety
Objective: 12.2
9) Which of the following is the purpose of the primary assessment?
A) To detect and treat immediately life-threatening problems
B) To find all of the patient’s signs and symptoms
C) To discover trends of improvement or deterioration in the patient’s condition
D) To detect dangers to the patient and/or EMS crew
Objective: 12.2
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10) Which of the following is true concerning the primary assessment?
A) Manual airway maneuvers must be performed on all patients.
B) The EMT should perform a sternal rub on all patients to test for response to painful stimuli.
C) External bleeding will be obvious as you enter the room and initially see the patient.
D) The primary assessment begins by just observing the patient as you enter the room.
Objective: 12.2
11) You are at the scene where a 19-year-old female college student has been drinking large
quantities of alcohol throughout the evening. On your arrival, the patient is lying on her back
with no signs of trauma, has vomited, and has slow, wet sounding respirations. Which of the
following should you do next?
A) Determine the respiratory rate.
B) Check for carotid and radial pulses.
C) Assist respirations with a bag-valve-mask device.
D) Open the patient’s airway using a head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver.
Objective: 12.3
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12) Your patient is a middle-aged man who appears to be in distress and is clutching his chest.
These observations lead you to suspect which type of problem?
A) Choking
B) Cardiac
C) Anaphylaxis
D) Digestive
Objective: 12.4
13) Which of the following techniques is used when formulating the general impression?
A) Detecting odors
B) Listening for unusual sounds
C) Looking for visual clues
D) All of the above
Objective: 12.4
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14) You find a middle-aged unresponsive man lying prone on the ground near a ladder. You
should:
A) move the ladder out of the way.
B) roll him over to a supine position.
C) pick him up with a scoop stretcher.
D) manually immobilize his head.
Objective: 12.4
15) Your patient is a 72-year-old female who has “twisted her ankle” coming down some steps.
She is alert and complaining of pain in her right ankle, but she jokes about her “clumsiness.”
Which of the following should you do next?
A) Take immediate manual control of the patient’s cervical spine.
B) Administer high-concentration oxygen by nonrebreather mask.
C) Determine the presence of a carotid pulse.
D) Ask if the patient has pain anywhere besides her ankle.
Objective: 12.4
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16) Which of the following questions will most likely elicit your patient’s chief complaint?
A) What made you call 911 this evening?
B) Do you have any medical problems?
C) How have you been feeling lately?
D) Have you been drinking today?
Objective: 12.4
17) A patient whose mental status can be described as “verbal” is able to:
A) tell you his or her name, his or her location, and what day it is.
B) respond only to a stimulus such as the EMT rubbing his sternum with his knuckles.
C) talk spontaneously and respond to the EMT’s questions.
D) respond to speaking or shouting by opening the eyes.
Objective: 12.4
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18) Which of the following is NOT true regarding a patient who has a mental status of less than
“alert”?
A) His brain may not be getting enough oxygen.
B) He is in a state of rapid eye movement sleep.
C) He may not have adequate blood circulation.
D) He requires high-concentration oxygen.
Objective: 12.4
19) The mnemonic AVPU is used to evaluate which of the following?
A) Patient’s chief complaint
B) Patient’s level of responsiveness
C) Patient’s transport priority
D) EMT’s general impression of the patient’s condition
Objective: 12.4
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20) You are approaching a young adult male lying supine on the ground with his eyes closed.
You should:
A) open his airway.
B) ask him if he is okay.
C) expose his chest.
D) feel for a pulse.
Objective: 12.4
21) Which of the following is NOT performed during the “Airway” phase of the primary
assessment?
A) Head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver
B) Obtaining the respiratory rate
C) Suctioning
D) Insertion of an oropharyngeal airway
Objective: 12.4
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